The present invention pertains to the field of nuclear medicine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a patient support mechanism for nuclear medicine and imaging studies.
In nuclear medicine, images of internal structures or functions of the body are acquired by detecting gamma radiation that is emitted from within the body or transmitted through the body. A factor affecting the quality of the acquired images is attenuation of the radiation between the source and the detector. There are various potential sources of attenuation of the radiation, one being structures within the body, and another being the patient support table. In nuclear medicine, it is common to detect radiation by positioning the detectors at various different angles about the patient""s body. Consequently, in certain instances, the table may be between a given detector and the patient""s body, thereby causing attenuation of radiation reaching that detector. Previous patient support tables provided basic support for the patient but also undesirably attenuated the radiation from the source to the detector. Additionally, the earlier approaches required the purchase of separate accessories for certain needs. Such accessories might include armrests, head support, etc.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a patient support mechanism with lowered attenuation compared to the previous approaches, while at the same time providing features that were previously available only by adding accessories.
An improved patient support table for medical imaging studies is disclosed. The table has regions where radiation attenuation is lower than that of surrounding regions of the table. The table facilitates acquisition of radiation passing through the lowered attenuation region. The table may also have contours to assist in supporting and aligning the patient with the region of lowered radiation attenuation. Because of the lowered attenuation it may be possible to reduce the total radiation dosage for a given medical image quality and/or reduce radiation damage to the patient.
Other features of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description that follows.